AMES, IOWA—Mitt Romney seized upon new numbers showing modest economic growth to argue Friday that President Obama’s policies have been a failure.“Today we received, by the way, the latest round of discouraging economic news. Last quarter our economy grew just 2%. After the stimulus was passed, the White House promised that the economy would now be growing at 4.3%. Over twice as fast. Slow economic growth means slow job growth and declining take-home pay,” Romney told more than 2,000 people at a chilly outdoor rally here. “That’s what four years of President Obama's policies have produced. Americans are ready for change. For growth, for jobs, for more take-home pay, and we're going to bring it to them.”
The speech at Kinzler Construction Services was billed as a new economic address, but Romney did not name any new policy proposals. Instead, he reiterated his five-point plan that he says will create 12 million jobs, a long-time staple in his stump speech.
The Republican nominee did use lofty rhetoric to argue that Obama squandered the opportunities he had when he was elected in 2008, and that the GOP ticket offered Americans a chance for “real change.”
“You know, four years ago, candidate Obama spoke to the scale of the times. Today, he shrinks from it, trying instead to distract our attention from the biggest issues to the smallest -- from characters on Sesame Street and silly word games to misdirected personal attacks he knows are false,” Romney said. “The president's campaign falls far short of the magnitude of these times. And the presidency of the last four years has fallen far short of the promises of the last campaign.”
He noted that Obama frequently says that the nation was already struggling when he came into office.
Despite this, Romney said, Obama failed to fix the economy, to buttress Medicare and Social Security, to reduce spending and borrowing, to work in a bipartisan manner or to deal with global threats.
“What he inherited wasn't the only problem; what he did with what he inherited made the problem worse,” Romney said.
Ironically, Romney spoke at a firm that benefitted from Obama’s actions. Kinzler received nearly $700,000 in stimulus funds, as first noted by the Center for American Progress. Romney has previously held events at places that benefited from the economic stimulus, such as Otterbein University in Ohio and Watson Truck & Supply in New Mexico.
Romney, who headed to Ohio after his Ames speech, pledged that he and running mate Paul D. Ryan would return to Iowa before the election, which is 11 days away.
“I’m counting on Iowa. Iowa may be the place that decides who the next president is.” Romney said. “It may decide whether or not we’re going to have real change, so I’m counting on you to vote. To get your friends to vote, to work at the polls, to bring people out we’ve got to take back America and make sure that we have the kind of change that gets America strong not just for us but for coming generations.”
The Obama campaign said Romney was trying to paper over his policies that would benefit the wealthy and would mark a return to the policies of President George W. Bush.
“Romney has started promising ‘big change,’ but the only change Romney’s offering is to take us back to the same failed policies that crashed our economy in the first place. That’s not the change we need, and with every ‘major speech,’ Mitt Romney just reminds voters that’s all he’s got to offer,” spokeswoman Lis Smith said in a written statement.
[email protected]
@LATSeema
The speech at Kinzler Construction Services was billed as a new economic address, but Romney did not name any new policy proposals. Instead, he reiterated his five-point plan that he says will create 12 million jobs, a long-time staple in his stump speech.
The Republican nominee did use lofty rhetoric to argue that Obama squandered the opportunities he had when he was elected in 2008, and that the GOP ticket offered Americans a chance for “real change.”
“You know, four years ago, candidate Obama spoke to the scale of the times. Today, he shrinks from it, trying instead to distract our attention from the biggest issues to the smallest -- from characters on Sesame Street and silly word games to misdirected personal attacks he knows are false,” Romney said. “The president's campaign falls far short of the magnitude of these times. And the presidency of the last four years has fallen far short of the promises of the last campaign.”
He noted that Obama frequently says that the nation was already struggling when he came into office.
Despite this, Romney said, Obama failed to fix the economy, to buttress Medicare and Social Security, to reduce spending and borrowing, to work in a bipartisan manner or to deal with global threats.
“What he inherited wasn't the only problem; what he did with what he inherited made the problem worse,” Romney said.
Ironically, Romney spoke at a firm that benefitted from Obama’s actions. Kinzler received nearly $700,000 in stimulus funds, as first noted by the Center for American Progress. Romney has previously held events at places that benefited from the economic stimulus, such as Otterbein University in Ohio and Watson Truck & Supply in New Mexico.
Romney, who headed to Ohio after his Ames speech, pledged that he and running mate Paul D. Ryan would return to Iowa before the election, which is 11 days away.
“I’m counting on Iowa. Iowa may be the place that decides who the next president is.” Romney said. “It may decide whether or not we’re going to have real change, so I’m counting on you to vote. To get your friends to vote, to work at the polls, to bring people out we’ve got to take back America and make sure that we have the kind of change that gets America strong not just for us but for coming generations.”
The Obama campaign said Romney was trying to paper over his policies that would benefit the wealthy and would mark a return to the policies of President George W. Bush.
“Romney has started promising ‘big change,’ but the only change Romney’s offering is to take us back to the same failed policies that crashed our economy in the first place. That’s not the change we need, and with every ‘major speech,’ Mitt Romney just reminds voters that’s all he’s got to offer,” spokeswoman Lis Smith said in a written statement.
[email protected]
@LATSeema